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Banning religious symbols "misguided"
January 28, 2004 12:00 AM
By Sarah Ludford MEP in European Parliament
By Sarah Ludford MEP in European Parliament
Mr President, I want to raise the issue of various moves in some Member States, notably France, to ban the wearing of so-called overt religious symbols. The spotlight has fallen in particular on the hijab, the Muslim headscarf. In order to be consistent and non-discriminatory, any such bans would affect the Sikh turban, the Jewish kippa or skullcap, and Christian crosses. Such bans are misguided.
Apart from the purely pragmatic argument that if you ban something then people want to do it, there are strong human rights arguments as to why banning is unacceptable. I refer in particular to Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to manifest one's religious observance in public. These guarantees are, of course, echoed in our own Charter of Fundamental Rights. It must surely be arguable that a ban would breach the EU directive on equal treatment regardless of race or religion.
Before France or other Member States find themselves condemned before the Strasbourg or Luxembourg courts they need to remember that a European model of integration rests on respect for differences and freedom to choose, not on illiberal imposition of uniformity.
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